Ch.5Monster

“What…? H-how did you know?”

“I felt it.”

“Th-this isn’t the time, we need to get to the shelter quickly….”

The police officer, still seemingly affected by alcohol, scrambled to his feet in a panic and started to run toward the shelter before stopping.

“Wait, aren’t you coming? If you’re going, we should go together…! Ah! Are you going to fight? Against monsters? They’re Destruction-rank?! And there are multiple of them?!”

“I don’t plan to fight. Hurry and go.”

“Then what are you doing?!”

I wasn’t concerned about monsters of this level anyway, so I was just planning to hide or avoid them until heroes arrived.

However, even a high-ranking superhuman would struggle to face multiple Destruction-rank monsters alone.

Knowing this fact, the police officer seemed worried about me.

“Look, I don’t know exactly, but aren’t you either newly awakened or somehow lacking as a superhuman? You could die if you stay here!”

“I won’t die. Stop wasting time….”

“Beggar! What are you doing! Don’t you know what the siren means?!”

“Beggar Mister! Hurry! Hurry!”

“Kids! Don’t go that way!”

At that moment, children came running from the apartment complex toward the park.

Behind them were their mothers, particularly the children and mothers who frequently visited the park.

The mothers, knowing I was a superhuman, seemed eager to take their children to the shelter, but the children appeared to have impulsively escaped and come here.

Then, the iron gate at the apartment entrance came down.

“Ah, aaaah! What do we do! What do we do!”

“What should we do! They shouldn’t close it so soon!”

The door leading to the shelter in the apartment basement had been sealed.

That meant the monsters were approaching.

I stood up and walked toward the children.

“Beggar, it’s dangerous to stay here! The monsters are coming!”

“Mom, what’s wrong? Let’s go quickly! The beggar is here!”

“Aaaah, the shelter is already closed?! Why? Why?!”

“What should we do…! Phone, the phone….”

“Where are the heroes?! Haven’t the heroes arrived yet?!”

The mothers and the police officer were in panic, while the children seemed relieved, as if everything would be fine now.

I gestured to the police officer, pointing at the children.

“These kids, give each of them a smack on the head. They’re disobedient little brats.”

“Is this really the time?! The shelter door is closed!”

“Let’s try to hold out until the heroes arrive.”

“Th-that’s right! This person is a superhuman!”

“Are you confident?! Destruction-rank… this siren sound means there’s more than one!”

I quietly nodded.

The strength and destructive power my body could produce without monsterization was between Homicide-rank and Destruction-rank.

However, my physical durability was the same as when I was monsterized.

While killing the monsters might be difficult, holding out until heroes arrived wouldn’t be too challenging.

“Gather in one place. Smack those disobedient kids on the head and hold them tight.”

“Ow! Why are you hitting me!”

“Stay still! You ran out without listening to me!”

“You too! How could you follow your friend when they ran out!”

“But the beggar sleeps outside!”

“No candy for you for a week!”

“That’s not fair! Candy!”

When I emphasized once more to give the kids a smack on the head, the somewhat relieved mothers each hit their children, pulled their ears, and punished them.

Then, the air rippled in the distance.

“They’re coming.”

“H-hii… they say guns barely work against Destruction-rank monsters…!”

“Aim properly at the head, and shoot calmly, one by one.”

“How can I be calm right now!”

The police officer drew his gun from his waist, and I heightened my senses while leaving my core dormant.

The monsters, with prey before their eyes, unveiled their forms by removing the veil that had been concealing them.

It’s a form I remember… Destruction-rank monster, Ghost Dog.

They’re tricky monsters that attack by shifting between materialization and dematerialization, but even when dematerialized, they’re still partially anchored to reality, so they can be damaged by powerful impacts.

In my current state, killing them is impossible, but I can hold them back.

However… completely blocking them would be quite difficult.

“The heroes need to arrive quickly.”

“Kyaang!”

For the first time in a while, I pushed off the ground without controlling my strength.

The ground cratered as I launched forward, and I could see the Ghost Dog’s surprise at how quickly I closed the distance.

As I stepped forward with a straight punch, the form of the Ghost Dog, which quickly turned ethereal, distorted.

The Ghost Dogs all rushed at me at once, but my body isn’t soft enough to be injured by just this.

As the Ghost Dogs opened their mouths, perhaps because their teeth hurt, I aimed punches at their jaws, but my fists passed through their dematerialized forms.

It felt like putting my arm in water and stirring it around. I hoped the Ghost Dogs would focus only on me, but…

“Aaaah!”

Bang, bang, gunshots echoed through the air.

Monsters aren’t stupid.

When faced with a strong monster, survival instinct makes them flee, join forces with their kind, or like now, ignore the strong and go after the weak.

The monsters’ goal isn’t something like human extinction, but eating humans.

They don’t necessarily need to eat the strong.

They target the weak, those with soft, tender flesh.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Kyahii!”

I pushed off the ground again and sent two Ghost Dogs flying as they lunged at a child and mother.

When they bite, they have to materialize, so my punch connected properly, but the impact was insufficient.

The Ghost Dog that flew far away and rolled on the ground immediately got up and erased its trace again.

“When are the heroes coming?”

“J-just a moment…! This is C2C! Monsters have appeared at the apartment! When are the heroes arriving?!”

[What? Apartment? Why are you there?!]

“I was on patrol! Protecting children and civilians! When are the heroes coming!”

[How can you protect them?! The heroes will still take some time!]

“Why?!”

[I don’t know! They just said it’ll take some time! That shelter is a special-grade shelter! There…!]

“We’re not in the shelter, that’s why I’m calling!”

[…Damn it! Why are you outside in the first place?!]

“Kyaaaah!”

At that moment, two Ghost Dogs broke through my defensive line.

Monsters charging in materialized form, I immediately sent one flying, but the other one…

With this strength, it’s not enough.

Without monsterizing, I can’t reach it.

But.

If I monsterize now.

“Police Officer!”

“Kuk, huuk…!”

A moment of hesitation, and in that instant, the Ghost Dog bit the police officer’s neck.

Coming to my senses, I belatedly rushed at the Ghost Dog and pulled it off the police officer.

The monster’s senses become heightened by the smell of human blood.

The wound is… deep.

It narrowly missed the neck and bit closer to the shoulder, but it’s still a potentially fatal injury.

“Huk… heok….”

“What do we do, what should we do…! Ah, aaah!”

“Why… aren’t the heroes coming…!”

“…Apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Take off your clothes and tie them tightly around his neck.”

“S-stop the bleeding…?”

“Eut, euut… heok….”

I looked down at the bleeding police officer leaning against the mothers and instructed them to stop his bleeding.

The mothers seemed flustered by the police officer’s continuously flowing blood and were panicking.

And I, seeing that sight, swallowed.

…A delicious smell.

Smelling human blood, my appetite surges.

Similarly, the Ghost Dogs, stimulated by the blood, grow increasingly ferocious.

Those that had been hiding and watching me fight now reveal themselves and gradually approach.

Because I hesitated for a moment, I put the police officer in mortal danger.

Even though I already know I’m not human, because I wanted to live a human life.

My strength without monsterizing is between Homicide-rank and Destruction-rank monsters.

My durability is much higher, but to protect everyone from these monsters…

I need the power of a monster.

“It’s hard to suppress my appetite. Hurry.”

“Q-quickly, everyone take them off! Hurry!”

“Hold the children tight so they can’t run away.”

Though confused by my words that made no sense to them, the mothers seemed to know there were priorities beyond modesty, and immediately took off their shirts to tightly bind the police officer’s neck and below his shoulder.

Then, I turned my gaze toward the monsters.

To eliminate all these monsters, I need destructive power and speed that can sweep them all away in one go.

No, the children wouldn’t survive that.

To protect them until heroes arrive, I need a barrier that can block a wide area, an ability that can obscure vision.

Rising bloodlust, the human body is enveloped in shadows.

The body of a black tiger that swallows and releases sound, the wings of a harpy that controls wind, the tail of an aberration that dominates shadows.

The siren sound, incomparably louder than before, resonates all the way outside the apartment.

“Grrrrrr….”

“Hi, hii…?! M-m-monster…?!”

Having monsterized with swelling shadows, I unleashed the power of a monster.

[Ooooooooh!]

The roar of a tiger that conceals traces, wings spread to create a barrier of wind that shields the surroundings.

Dozens of tails consume shadows, sinking darkness into the surroundings.

A barrier of ability that blocks both material and immaterial, an aura that warns of being torn apart by a stronger monster if they approach.

The activated monster core emits waves, warning the monsters.

If they approach any further, they will all die.

Monsters flee when faced with stronger monsters to avoid being eaten.

But the Ghost Dogs didn’t run away.

The strongest instinct of monsters: to eat humans and become stronger.

Following the instinct to become stronger, monsters even oppose other monsters.

Eating a strong monster can make them stronger.

If a monster is weakened from being injured by heroes, or for some other reason doesn’t attack…

A strong monster becomes prey for weaker monsters.

In the eyes of the Ghost Dogs, I appear to be a sick monster that doesn’t attack despite being strong, plus the smell of blood seeping from the police officer’s neck.

But once I’ve transformed into a monster, the Ghost Dogs can’t approach me.

A barrier has formed that prevents them from either fleeing or coming closer.

“Appetite… you mean… you’re a monster… not some superpower that makes you transform like a monster….”

Beneath my body, which had taken the form of a massive beast, the police officer, faced with a monster’s form, uttered in a weak voice.

“Makes sense… why you wouldn’t be… registered as a superhuman….”

Humans never fail to recognize monsters.

The waves emitted by a monster’s core, the vibrations of infrasound that stimulate human instinct.

Regardless of rank, the pressure that intimidates humans continuously leaks out.

“I never thought… you were really a giant cat….”

[Not a cat.]

Monsters can’t speak human language.

But right now, my head is that of a monster with the ability to manipulate sound and waves.

When I responded by making the surroundings resonate, the children and the police officer were startled.

“A monster… speaking… no, I guess it makes sense….”

Common sense dictates that monsters can’t speak human language.

Communication is also impossible, which is why humans thoroughly oppose monsters.

To begin with, the idea of a monster in human form doesn’t make sense.